I had a rather traumatic experience today when I snapped the end off my favourite #55's lever, and I don't want to repeat this with any other of my CS pens. I have noticed the ones with pressure bars require a fair amount of torque to operate and I wonder if I'm doing something wrong when I restore them.
Here's my usual process:
- remove the pressure bars using tweezers, with the lever at 30 degrees to the horizontal
- clean up the bars, including fine-sanding the grooves where the little tongues on the lever slide along
- reinstall the pressure bar, with the lever at 30 degrees or so, with the short end of the bar pointing towards the section end (some have one tab, others two) and positioning it as far back as it will go i.e. so the end of the lever is resting against the front tab, if there is one.
- check clearances so the proximal end of the bar is well clear of where the section nipple will end up
- insert section without twisting
I have been using latex sacs from fountainpensacs.com, they apparently get them from the pen sac company. I use a #17 in the fatter pens such as CS58 and #16 sacs in the slimmer ones such as CS388.
I use talc liberally in the reassembly process. I always ensure the feed does not protrude from the nipple.
Has anyone any further suggestions, or can point out something I am doing wrong?